Young People and the ‘Entrepreneurial Self’

Alan Mackie
PhD Student

Keywords:
Youth Work; Young People; Neo-liberalism

Abstract

The notion of ‘choice’ is particularly strong today in public discourse and reflects the increased marketization of our society. As such, young people are expected to have the capacity to be ‘rational planners’ of their future – making short-term decisions based on a long-term goal. Evidence suggests that young people are happy to embrace this challenge, becoming self-managers of an imagined future, accepting the responsibility to create a pathway from youth to adulthood. Of course, in modern society it’s never that simple.